FAIL: Never Work with Children or Bicycles ...

I had a sore foot, a child under one arm, a bicycle under the other and it was starting to rain. The trip to Draycote Water had NOT turned out like planned.

4yo had had a new bicycle for Christmas. A ‘Hello Kitty’ bicycle no less. It was pink, white and she had a pink helmet with flowers on. And there was a seat for a doll on the back. She could only have been happier if she had been crowned Fairy Princess on the same day.

I had visions of running around the reservoir in the sunshine, a smiling red cheeked child pedalling away by my side, her pigtails flying in the wind. My imagination added in mother-child bonding time, ice cream stops and some speed work as I tried to keep up with her enthusiasm.

I hadn’t expected to have to leap out of the way of her mad cycling, getting my foot run over when I didn’t jump high, fast, far enough. She got so mesmerised by her feet pedalling that she forgot to look where she was going so lightning reflexes were required to stop her catapulting the wall and ending up in the reservoir and turning this into a team triathlon effort. I did manage to get some speed work in though, running back to apologise to scattered walkers who had leapt to safety when a furiously pedalling pigtailed child had energetically flown through the centre of their group, sending walking sticks flying.

However, after a couple more minutes of weaving and adult ankle maceration, she abruptly stops. “My legs are saying they’re tired”.

What do you tell a child with possessed legs? “Um ok. Let’s have a bit of a rest, shall we? We had a rest. Then we’d go again. For about 3 metres. Then stop for a rest again. It was like the most frustrating interval session ever. Just as I’d start running, she’d stop and if she’d veered towards me, I’d have to attempt an awkward hop to avoid ending up in the doll seat on the back of her bike. If I ended up in that I’d be wedged in for life.

After a few more intervals and hops. She stops again. This time for good. Not even chocolate can persuade her to start pedalling again. Then it starts raining.

So. Child under one arm. Bike under the other. This counts as cross-training, right?